


Sky Full of Song

by 77skie77



Series: We Can't Hide From the Thunder [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 10:41:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/77skie77/pseuds/77skie77
Summary: College AU where Barry and Cisco are roommates, Iris is the amazing girl in Barry's Shakespeare class, Caitlin and Ronnie are a year older, and on Barry's twentieth birthday comes with the worst news he can imagine.





	Sky Full of Song

"Sky Full of Song"

"Hold me down, I'm so tired now,"

Barry stands on the roof of CC Jitters. It's a long way down so he makes sure to be careful near the edge. He doesn't feel like falling. It is his birthday after all. Happy twentieth birthday to him. This has been the worst way to begin a new decade. He was late to work because he needed to get a textbook for class that he almost left in his dorm. Then he ended up being late to his class and Dr. Wells had already locked the door, so he had to go back to the dorm and tell his roommate, Cisco, what happened. Cisco tried to cheer him up by watching the two-part series finale of the show they had been watching together. The tv show had a _terrible_ ending. It's one thing to have an ending worthy of tears—and Barry definitely cried over this one—but it's another to build up a character and have them develop so much only to wreck it in the last season for a heartbreaking ending. Never has Barry felt so betrayed by a show than he has by BBC's _Merlin_. He will watch every episode again. Soon. But, that's against the point. Then, he went to class and was an idiot in front of the cute girl from his Shakespeare class. Iris will probably never talk to him again for being such a moron. He's pretty sure he has permanently stained his favorite sweater because he got red icing on it. He liked that sweater. Barry sighs. Why is he fixating on his stupid sweater? Something way worse happened today.

It's too hard to think about. He decides as tears sting his eyes. His dad died today. He’d rather not think about that. He’d rather not think about how he never got to say goodbye.

A sob builds in his throat. He tries to hold it back. If he learned anything from Suzanne Collins's books, _The Hunger Games_ , it's that if he breaks, it's going to be harder to put himself back together. He can't do that. Not today. Maybe not ever.

"Um, are you okay?" A voice asks from behind Barry.

Barry freezes. He knows that voice. It belongs to Iris West. She's the amazing girl from his Shakespeare class that he can't seem to stop embarrassing himself in front of.

"Hello?" Iris asks.

Barry swipes his eyes, turns around, and puts on his best pretend smile. "I'm okay. Thanks for asking." He replies. He winces at the sound of his voice. He sounds hoarse.

"Yeah, I don't believe you." Iris says. "It's okay if you're not okay. You can talk to me about it if you want. We are Shakespeare buddies after all." She smiles.

Shakespeare buddies? That's what she calls Barry awkwardly making conversation before class starts? At least it sounds like she doesn't think he's a weirdo. Well...she might be choosing to be nice right now because Barry is clearly distressed and on a roof. She might be trying to calm him down. Either way, it's nice of her.

"It's okay Iris. I'm all right. I just needed to do some thinking." Barry tells her.

Iris takes a few slow steps towards Barry. "This is a good place to think, I like to sneak up here to write for my journalism classes. There's something about being up above the city that helps me reflect." Iris says.

"Is that your major?" Barry asks.

"Yeah; I'm gonna be a journalist." Iris replies. "What about you? What's your major?"

"I'm a chemistry major and I think I'll do a physics minor." Barry answers.

"Does that make Shakespeare one of your arts requirements?"

Barry nods.

As much as Barry enjoys talking to Iris, he kind of wants to be by himself because he still wants to cry and doesn't know how much longer he can stop himself.

"Do you want to get some food? I know a decent pizza place that's still open. Then we can get off this roof." Iris says.

"Maybe another time?" Barry asks.

"Can we at least get off the roof?" Iris asks.

"Um," Barry tries to think of an excuse for him to remain on the roof that won't make Iris worry. He can't think of anything, so he just nods.

They walk into the stairwell and walk down the stairs until they get to the first floor.

Iris's phone rings. "Oh, that's my dad's ringtone. I need to take this." She pulls her phone out and answers.

Barry's eyes well up with tears at the word "dad". He covers his mouth to stop him from sobbing out loud. He’s never going to get to talk to his dad again.

Something changes in Iris's voice and she says, "Hey Dad? I need to go. I'll call back later. Love you." She hangs up her phone.

Barry tries to steady his breathing, but he knows he’s doing that horrible thing when he breathes too quickly before he starts crying. At least he’s not making any other stupid sounds yet. This is awful.

"Are you okay Barry?" Iris asks.

Barry stares at the floor. He can't look at her. He just can't look at her and let her see him like this.

"Let's sit down. Okay?" Iris suggests.

"I'm fine." Barry lies. His voice is choked with sobs he's desperately trying to hold back. "I just..." Barry tries to make himself stop talking, but he can't help himself. "I miss my dad."

"Where's your dad?" Iris asks.

"He died." Barry's crying now. He hides his face in his hands. "He died today."

"I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"He got stabbed. He was in prison."

"I'm sorry. Can I take you to a relative? Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"

"I have to go back to my dorm. My mom's dead. My dad was in prison for killing her--he didn't do it, but nobody believed him. I lived with my grandmother but then she died two years ago so now I'm alone." Barry doesn’t know why he’s telling Iris all of this, but it doesn’t matter anyway because he's letting out harsh ugly sobs between each word and Iris might not even understand what he's saying. It's so loud and messy and Barry's on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped firmly around them and his face buried in his knees.

"Is there someone I can call to bring you back to your dorm?" Iris asks.

"My roommate." Barry chokes out. "Cisco."

There's a gentle hand on Barry's shoulder. "Can I use your phone to call Cisco to come get you?" Iris asks.

Barry nods and pulls out his phone. He hands it to Iris who doesn't take her hand off his shoulder as she calls Cisco.

"Hi, I'm calling from Barry's phone. Are you Cisco?" There's a pause. "I'm Iris and I'm with Barry at Jitters. He needs you to come get him." There's another pause, "He's physically okay; he's really upset though." There's another pause. "Yes, he told me about his dad."

Barry stops listening and instead focuses on the small circles Iris is rubbing into his shoulder. He tries to steady his breathing but it's easier to give in to the tears at this point. His dad's gone and he's never coming back. Barry never even got a chance to say goodbye. He was supposed to get to see him today. He hadn't seen him in a month. He misses him so much already.

"Barry?” Iris asks.

Barry forces himself to listen to Iris.

“Cisco's coming. He said he wanted me to tell you he's bringing Caitlin but Ronnie's at work and they can't reach him right now or he would be coming with them." Iris says. "It sounds like you have some really good friends."

Barry nods. "Best."

Iris sits beside Barry and they wait for Cisco and Caitlin together.

Finally, Cisco and Caitlin arrive.

"Hey man, we were looking everywhere for you." Cisco says. He puts his hand on Barry's free shoulder. "I guess we should've checked here."

"Do you want to go back to yours and Cisco's room or do you want to stay in Ronnie's and my spare bedroom, so you don't have to deal with the dorm shower and dorm food and that one dormmate who's always having loud sex in the room above yours?" Caitlin asks.

"You'll let Barry stay there but you won't let me visit? Where's the love, Caitlin?" Cisco comments.

Despite himself, Barry lets out a laughing sob. "Thanks Caitlin."

"Of course, Barry, you're like a brother to me." Caitlin says.

Caitlin’s a year older than Barry and Cisco. They all met when Cisco, Ronnie, and Caitlin took Dr. Wells’s class last year. Cisco decided that Barry just _had_ to meet both Caitlin and Ronnie, so he brought them to their dorm, and the four became fast friends. If Barry could pick an older sister, he would’ve chosen Caitlin.

"Let's head over there and order some food. You can pick." Cisco says. "And Caitlin or Ronnie can pay so they can be good hosts."

"Now that you're in good hands, I'm gonna go. I'll see you in class, Barry. If you need anything, just ask. Okay?" Iris says.

Barry nods. "Thank you." He croaks.

"Thank you for taking care of him, Iris." Cisco tells Iris as she leaves.

Caitlin sits beside Barry and asks, "Can I hug you?"

Barry nods.

Caitlin hugs him.

Barry hides his face in her shoulder and cries.

Cisco wraps an arm around Barry and says, "We've got you, bro."

"I miss him already." Barry sobs.

"I know." Caitlin says.

"It's okay to miss him." Cisco adds.

Barry eventually calms down enough for the three of them to get up, leave Jitters, and go to Caitlin's and Ronnie's place. They order pizza and binge-watch _Merlin_. The apartment is cold or maybe Barry's just tired from all his crying, but he starts shivering and almost immediately, Caitlin wordlessly gets up and comes back with a fluffy blanket that she wraps around Barry's shoulders. Barry feels so touched he starts crying again. Caitlin hugs him again and even after Barry calms down, she doesn't move until the pizza arrives. Then she leaves to pay for it. Barry barely touches his piece of pizza. Cisco not-so-casually makes Barry's favorite sick-food: potato soup. Barry eats that because he would feel guilty not eating it. Ronnie joins them after a few hours. He has eight pints of Ben and Jerry's with him.

"Two each." Ronnie explains. "Pick a flavor."

Everyone picks one except Barry who isn't hungry anymore.

Ronnie not-so-casually slides a bar of Barry's favorite chocolate into Barry's hand and goes to the kitchen to put the rest of the ice cream away. Barry manages to eat a small piece of it. He makes sure Ronnie sees him when he does it too so Ronnie knows he’s grateful.

Barry doesn't know how they manage it, but all four of them squeeze onto Caitlin's and Ronnie's couch. As Barry starts to doze off, he realizes that even though he misses his dad so much that he physically aches, he isn't alone. His family's right here.


End file.
